Weather or Not

Published 6:00 pm, Monday, February 26, 2001

What is weather?

Answering that question recently brought together two teachers and their classes — one from elementary school; the other from high school.

Second-graders in Jane Johnson's class at Bush Elementary School and students from Cheryl Sturgeon's geology class at The Woodlands High School participated in the inter-class project that culminated in a visit to the elementary school.

"I thought it was a great opportunity for the two different age groups to interact," said Johnson. "We both do weather. We just do it in different ways."

Johnson's pupils got the project started by sending questions about weather to Sturgeon's students.

Some questions dealt with real issues. For example, children were curious about thunder.

Some of the more typical questions asked if you could have thunder without lightning, and where thunder comes from.

Some questions weren't so typical, though.

"Can it really rain cats and dogs?" is one question that popped up.

"They hear that (phrase and wonder) could that happen," said Johnson. "They put a lot of thought into their questions."

Johnson's class focused on the water cycle, a precursor to the study of weather. For her class, learning words such as condensation and evaporation seemed a bit overwhelming at times.

But with the help of Sturgeon's students, the second-graders found learning about weather interesting if not downright personal.

Each high school student picked a topic, researched it and produced a newsletter explaining it.

Through his newsletter, senior Casey Allen explained the concept of clouds to second-grader Claire Delongchamp. That was something Claire found rather interesting.

"I like the way they change," said Claire of the clouds. "They change with the (water) cycle."

With a nod of her head, Claire acknowledged that all she had learned in that short amount of time was because of Casey.

The assignment proved equally challenging for Casey.

"I picked clouds because I thought I could teach it very well," Casey said.

After researching the topic, Casey took what he found and made it relevant to a second-grader.

"You have to slow it down and break it down (so they understand) what the big words mean," he said.

"I think people underestimate how much these kids can understand," he said. "You give good examples and they end up putting it together themselves."

Hondo's topic — lightning and thunder — allowed him to answer some of the questions the second-graders sent over.

For example, Hondo found that at a temperature in excess of 40,000 degrees, lightning is about as hot as the sun.

And yes, you can have thunder without lightning.

"There's some thunder that just from the friction alone from large amounts of heat cooling really quickly will cause the noise without the spark of lightning," Hondo said.

The project also benefitted Hondo in another respect.

"Being a teacher (requires) patience," he said. "In order to communicate properly and make sure (the material) is on a level they can understand, you have to make sure they're receptive to what's going on."

After making so many presentations to children on this level, Stephanie Rubino, 17, has a better understanding of teachers.

"It's a very hard job trying to keep the kids' attention without them fading away," Stephanie said.

Stephanie's key to success during the classroom visit came because she learned to keep asking the children questions on topics they could relate to and enjoy at the same time.

"The little kids were able to teach me what they knew about the water cycle and I was able to share with them what I knew about the weather," she said. "I don't think any of it was very hard. They seemed to understand because they were learning about it. They seemed to adapt very well."

The project and especially the newsletters produced by Sturgeon's students impacted the second grade class in ways Johnson appreciated.

"They can put faces with the author," said Johnson of her students and how they related to the older students. "They can see their writing ability, the information that they've had to research and their way of presenting it.

"It's added a whole other dimension to learning."

Principal Nancy MacLeod praised the high school students for taking on a project such as this.

"Children this age are very impressed by teen-agers," she said. "I said to them 'You have a responsibility in that you are a role model for these children. And if they hear you talking about school, liking school, going on to college, it will influence them too."

Providing an opportunity for more interaction between the two groups is something MacLeod welcomes.

"Matching teen-age kids with elementary kids is a very good thing that's underused," MacLeod said. "We're very happy to do anything with the high school."